1. Field of the Invention
The preferred embodiments of the present invention relate, inter alia, to a dry clutch for transmitting and intercepting power from an engine to a drive wheel by engaging and disengaging a driving member and a driven member. They also relate to a motorcycle equipped with the dry clutch.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
For example, scooter type motorcycles are generally constructed such that a unit swing type engine unit provided with an engine body and a V-belt type continuously variable transmission is supported by a body frame in an up-and-down swingable manner.
In such a V-belt type continuously variable transmission, it generally employs the structure in which a V-belt is put on a driving pulley connected to a crankshaft and a driven pulley connected to a rear wheel shaft and a dry clutch is arranged on a side of the driven pulley for transmitting/intercepting the engine motive power to the driven pulley side.
A conventional dry clutch of this kind is described in Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publication No. H07-119764 (hereinafter referred to as “Patent Document 1”). In this conventional dry clutch, a clutch shoe is arranged on a side of a driving shaft to which engine motive power is steadily transmitted and a clutch drum is arranged on a side of a driven shaft connected to a rear wheel, so that the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the driving shaft causes the clutch shoe to be engaged with the clutch drum to thereby transmit the engine motive power to the rear wheel.
The aforementioned conventional dry clutch has a problem in that rotational fluctuations of the crankshaft due to the reciprocating motions of the piston are transmitted to the clutch drum via the clutch shoe, which transmits the rotational fluctuations to the rider as vibrations of the vehicle body. Such vibrations are often generated particularly in a state in which the clutch shoe is new and the clutch is not fully engaged at the time of acceleration/deceleration of the vehicle. Improvements in this respect have been demanded.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. For example, certain features of the preferred embodiments of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages and/or providing certain advantages, such as, e.g., disadvantages and/or advantages discussed herein, while retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.